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tv   Happening Now  FOX News  February 26, 2013 8:00am-10:00am PST

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♪ [singing] stay forever young. martha: forget early retirement. scientists say that 72 is the new 30. new research suggests that a 72-year-old has the same chance of dying today as a 30-year-old did in primitive times. bill and i decided that makes us 17-years-old. we are going to go out
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partying. bill: makes me about 19, you about 15. martha: right. we'll see how old jon and jen a are. jenna: loaded question. jon: let's not go there, shall we. jenna: we'll join you with the party later. brand-new stories and breaking news. jon: a deadly winter storm slams the great plains, blinding snow and now it is taking aim at folks in the midwest. the president's new strategy when it comes to the budget battle and the g.o.p. he seems to be taking a divide and conquer approach. what that could mean for your taxes. plus a vacation nightmare, more than a dozen tourists killed in a horrifying hot air balloon accident. what went wrong? it's all "happening now." and we begin with an extreme weather alert on the deadly blizzard that is now on the move. good morning, i'm jon. jenna: hi, everybody i'm jenna leave. it's the second winter storm in
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as many days to slam the heartland of our country. heavy snow across kansas and missouri while lashing the texas panhandle with hurricane-force winds. take a look at these photos. the winds whipping, stranding dozens of cars in the road there in amarillo and making road travel extremely treacherous. tens of thousands of people are without power that are still reeling from the last storm. it's making it very tough to clear the roads this time around. >> wind is blowing that snow up over the too much these plows and right back up on the windshield. it makes it about twice as hard as just trying to drive through it. jenna: tough work indeed. blinding snow also a real problem in kansas city, missouri. with a new blizzard blowing in only five days after the last one, it's been a kick turn around. we have live team fox coverage. maria molina is in the fox weather center.
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first to mike tobin in kansas city, missouri who is getting an up close look at the storm. what is the situation there. >> reporter: it looks like the worst of the storm has passed so far. i'm watching some of the drivers go past us. the one thing that the department of transportation wants to see is empty roads right now. it's treacherous driving out there when the drivers get stuck that make it hard for them to plow around. we've got eight department of transportation vehicles that are stuck in the ditch, two of them have flipped over on their side. they say they've thrown everything they have at this storm and they they are just getting to the point where they are watching up witness right now. the last thing they want are people stuck in the road, jenna. jenna: with heavy snow like this not only the roads and we are seeing a truck make his way right behind you, some careful driving there, mike. what about power in the area? what about electricity? >> reporter: the power is real bad. i'll show you the culprit. as we walk down here awful this wet, heavy snow is sticking to the trees and it weighs these trees down. as you look around and you look
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at this tree and across the street you can see all of the trees are weighed down by the wet, heavy no and that's what bends it into the power lines and breaks the power lines. with the driving conditions being that bad it's really difficult for the utility crews to get out and fix the power lines once they are down. you have 42,000 people in this area who are without power right now. jenna: that is another big problem. any snow angels between hits just while you guys are hanging out? probably not. >> reporter: just trying to stay warm in between hits. jenna: that sounds good. we'll take that for now. jon: mike ace big skier. how is the skiing in kansas city? >> reporter: heights a little flat. jon: a little flat. cross country then, thanks. where is this monster storm headed now? maria molina live in the fox extreme weather center with that. >> reporter: good morning, everyone. we are tracking a center of low pressure over portions of missouri and moving into areas
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of illinois. it's very widespread. we have snow not only across areas of missouri and iowa but starting to move into areas across the great lakes and eventually into new england as early as tomorrow morning. we have to watch for an area of low pressure and we are seeing strong thunderstorms across sections of northern florida with the possibility for severe weather. the area of low pressure across missouri we are expect being the system to continue to weaken. the wind are slowly dying down. we are going to continue to see wind gusts gusting over 20 or even 30 miles per hour at times. that can produce the white out conditions across southern areas of iowa and also across portions of illinois, so travel really not recommended across these areas especially across missouri. we still do have winter storm warnings in effect because that snow is still coming down and we still have those wind gusting, otherwise winter weather advisories across sections of the great lakes, chicago, you can see anywhere between 3 to 6 inches of snow and that will be the story as well across sections of new england as we
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head into your wednesday and even into your thursday. across the south we actually have a tornado watch right now in effect across cities like orland de, tampa, jacksonville. southeastern sections of the state of georgia. because we do have the possibility not just for tornadoes but damaging wind gusts in excess of 60 miles per hour and large-size hail. that in itself can cause damage. much course if we get any inventory warnings we'll bring those to you right away because that is when you need to seek shelter. right now these areas under a tornado watch just need to remain alert. timing on the storm system again as we head into to remain we'll start to see snow across places like pennsylvania. upstate new york, massachusetts. most of the irk 95 corridor expected to stay too warm to see any snow. new york city you should be fine, maybe a snow shower during the overnight hours but the rain will be heavy at time. overnight tonight into your wednesday. by thursday most areas staying dry. a quick shot of how much snow we're expecting once again, three to six inches across portions ever the great lakes, parts of up state new york three
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to six inches as well. bill jon: thanks pha* maria. jenna: switching gears to the budget battle. "politico" says the president is waging a high stakes strategy to win the fight against the g.o.p. saying quote, he will divide, isolate and defeat republicans using all the powers of his office, and all his skills as a political campaigner. as americans grow frustrated with the cuts republicans will readjust their parties no tax mantra and demand that congress end the standoff even if it means raising some new revenue just the way obama is demanding. joining me now with his take on all of this joe trippi, howard dean's former campaign manager hanna fox news contributor. joe has a strategist do you agree that that is really what is happening here with the president? >> it's certainly by default going to go down that way. part of the reason i think it works for him is that the
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republican part see is sort of fractured right now and is arguing about the path to take. i mean, even within its own ranks and that definitely hess the president, who by the way has this -- i know we look at his 53% approval rating and wonder, that's relatively slow sometimes for a second term, beginning of a second term, but the republicans in congress have a 23, 24% approval rating, so, you know, you put those two things in combination and he's got a lot more room to maneuver and to push, and he seems to be very aggressive to do this. jenna: approval ratings aside, i don't want to mention the approval ratings of the media, we are pretty low in there too. that aside the president is going to need congress and republicans if he wants to get some of his immigration reform passed. gun control legislation, any of that and keeping the government open which is another big issue we are going to think about at end of next month. why set the tone that he is with
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the campaign event today, why come out this way in the beginning of this term? >> because i think -- first of all on all those issues you talked about immigration is another one where the republicans -- internally you've got people who want to compromise on it and others who say, no amnesty, no path to citizenship, within the republican party. i think the president's decided to go to the people. i mean literally to do it from the bottom up, to not try to lobby members of congress from the top, from his office by making calls, but from having citizens out there do it for him, and that's why i think they took ofa, his campaign organization made organization for action to now work his agenda out there in these district n these republican district, have those members hear from citizens, and to trigger that. and so i think the republicans -- my own vice they still haven't -- and i'm talking about office holders now -- still haven't figured out
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exactly how powerful that organization is, and the question is can it mobilize them to worry about their own election in 2014, answer some of those citizens' demands and actually move them to compromise? i think that's what the president's goal is. jenna: let's go bigger then. what do you think this says about the state of american leadership in the country. not just the actions of the president and his strategy but also the actions of the republicans. >> it's really a problem right now. and i think it's a bigger problem because within the republican party, and the reason is, it's not -- it's because we don't have -- they don't have the president. when you have the president your party -- when george bush was president you had a little bit more ability to discipline people, move them in the same direction. the problem right now is there is no one -- a party can be like herding cats and there is really no one with the strength or the leadership on the republican side right now to bring it together. i know marco rubio is somebody that they hope that plays that role at some point, but clearly
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it's not working, and i don't think they can get the votes there. and that also makes it tough to negotiate, because who do you negotiate with? jenna: there is no one person, one big voice or personality. sometimes that big voice or personality comes out of no where. we'll kind of look for that, joe overt next couple of weeks. again one crisis to the next and we look forward to watching them all with you, joe, thank you. >> thanks, jenna, take care. jon: here is a question you might not have thought b. who becomes an al-qaida ter terrorist and tries to attack the united states. a fascinating study on what type of person decides that waging war on you and your children is the best thing they can do with their lives. a devastating hot air balloon accident kills at least 19 tourists. the latest on the investigation and the latest chapter in a massive scandal. horsemeat found in the very popular swedish meatballs sold by ikea stores. folks in the u.s. starting to
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jon: some international stories we are watching right now. a massive blast outside the syrian capitol of damascus. this video believed to show the initial blast followed by flashess from repeated mortar attack. you can clearly hear the sound of gunfire, at least eight people are dead as the civil war there goes on. in israel militants launching a rocket from the west bank, the first attack of its kind in three months, breaking the cease-fire. palestinian militants taking responsibility saying the attack was meant to avenge the death of a palestinian in israeli can you. in egypt a hot air balloon
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explodes in midair sending 21 people plunging to the ground. at least 19 foreign tourists were killed. leland vittert is live in our mideast newsroom now with the very latest on this horrific crash. what happened there, leland? >> reporter: jon, these people were flying atusand feet over the town of luxor, that is when the gas line that goes from the gas tanks on the hot air balloon to the burner that actually heats up the air there in the balloon snapped. that gas line then sent the gas into the burner, lit the balloon on fir and there was a massive explosion there at a thousand feet. the one person who survived was the pilot who was able to jump out of the basket just before it impacted the ground. at least 19 tourists in this balloon were not so lucky, their charred remains were all over a sugar cane field in the southern part of egypt. they had taken an early morning hot air balloon ride to look at
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some of the historic sites from above, that includes some of the pyramids down there, also the nile river that was there. they were flying with about eight other balloons, a very popular tourist attraction there, everything from french, chinese to british citizens were on this balloon when it ended upcoming down. and they have now grounded all the hot air balloons like there in the luxor area, they are down in southern egypt. this is another hit to the tourism industry, which is the life blood of egypt, obviously the revolution there has made a lot of people very skittish about heading to egypt. hotel capacity right now about 25% of occupancy of what you could have there, even though this is the high season down in egypt, and certainly a safety scare like this. which calls into question the kind of regulations that they have there in egypt protecting tourists on everything from hot air balloons to buses to their physical safety because of the riots and other things we've seen in egypt is going to make it difficult for them to attract
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more and more tourists when they need the dollars desperately and similar me they aren't there right now, jon. we haven't heard any confirmation about how this exactly happened from the pilot. you can believe once he begins to recover from his wound from jumping out of that hot air balloon the authorities are going to start investigating and try to figure out if there was a way to have prevented this or a freak accident where the gas line popped out and started everything on fire. unfortunately at a thousand feet when a fire starts there is not a lot you can do. jon: what a terrifying story. thanks very much. leland vittert in our mideast newsroom. jenna: time is ticking to avoid billions in automatic spending cuts in washington. cuts that the navy warns could hurt its ability to respond to a global crisis. up next we'll speak with the secretary of the navy about how the service is preparing, get more specifics with him. also there is a pakistani company that the military says is responsible for most of the fuel in roadside bombs in afghanistan. well now that same company wants
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to start doing business with the united states. more on this controversy and one lawmaker's efforts to stop it. [ heart beating, monitor beeping ] woman: what do you mean, homeowners insurance doesn't cover floods? [ heart rate increases ] man: a few inches of water caused all this? [ heart rate increases ] woman #2: but i don't even live near the water. what you don't know about flood insurance may shock you -- including the fact that a preferred risk policy
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jon: right now growing concerns over the possible affects ever the sequester, spending cuts on our military services. let's take a look at the u.s. navy. for weeks the top brass have painted a dire picture of a weakened fleet that could struggle to respond to crises around the world. warnings of canceled ship deployments, delayed repairs to aging vessels, less money for new ships and planes, furloughs and maybe even layoffs of civilian employees all coming as a result. joining us now to talk about this the secretary of the navy and former mississippi governor ray mavis. secretary mavis thanks nor being with us. there are a lot of naval
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personnel and their families watching right now wondering what is going to happen on friday. what do you say about them and their paychecks, first of all? >> well, what i say is that this doesn't need to happen. sequestration is a bad idea, it's been a bad idea, and the affect that it could have on naval readiness, as secretary of the navy i've got to worry about that, the affect it can have on workers both in our federal shipyard like here in norfolk and in the private shipyards. the workers around nor fork and virginia could be furniture load for up to 22 days, lose to 2 22% of their salaries. and the ripple affect as it goes out. and the fact that this is artificially created, that the president has presented a very comprehensive plan that is tied to strategy that can fix this.
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it's going to require some compromise, only congress can do this now, but we need to fix this. we don't need to make these cuts in this mindless, automatic way. we need to have a comprehensive, balanced approach to do this so we don't harm our national security. jon: well, if what way would national security be affected if the sequestration goes through? can you give us some specifics? >> well, we've already delayed the sailing of the true man and her strike group to the middle east. sequestration hits, we're going to have to delay the sailing of the baton and her am tpaoe and amphibious group. we will are to take down nine of our carrier air wings.
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it will take up to a year to get them back. it will cost through or three times as much to get them ready. we will fly less, train less, doe employ less deploy less and you will see the affects of workers being furniture load and how that impacts productivity. our shippers will be later and they will cost more. we have got two carriers, one being built here, the ford, and one about to be started, the kennedy. it's going to stretch the time out, it's going to increase the cost for both of them, and they may not be either finished or built if sequestration hits and sticks. jon: i think a lot of fox news viewers are big supporters of the military and don't like to see some of the nightmare scenarios that you're talking about. i want to share with our viewers a couple of graphics, and i know, secretary, you're not able
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to see them, but they show the projected growth in federal spending is the blue line for 2013 with and without the sequester cuts. the sequester cuts show the red line. it is almost inch perceptible. if you take a look at ba bar graph of the federal bulge net 2013, on the left there without the sequester and on the right with the sequester, again, my eyesight is reasonably good and i almost cannot tell the difference. secretary, the question to you, admiral mike mullen the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says that our budget deficit is one of the greatest long-term security threats to this country. so, if the sequester is an attempt to try to deal with the deficit, why not let it go through? >> well, because sequester is a bad idea. of it is a mindless way to cut. it's not a smart way to cut defense. defense needs to take some more
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reductions as we go forward to get to the new reality that we are facing, but it needs to be done in a strategic way. these cuts have nothing to do with strategy. you have to look at the cuts that come from sequester and the affects they will have on our military readiness. they will have to -- you have to look at them and the affect lit have on our workforce. you have to look at them and the affects it will have on the military being able to carry out our job and to carry out the strategy. are need to have a budget. you need to have a budget that does this in a balanced way, that does this in a way that comports with our strategy, in way that is not just mindless and cuts across the board. and that's what the president has proposed, and it's going to take some compromise, only
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congress can do it, but that's what we need to get done now, this need to be fixed. jon: navy secretary ray mabus i wish we could talk to you for the rest of the hour. we appreciate you joining us. thanks very much. >> thanks, jon. jenna: a new warning about home-grown terror today, why incidents like the fort hood massacre and other high profile attacks are still a major threat in the united states. we will take a look at this changing face of terror 20 years to the day after al-qaida first attacked the world trade center. plus, we are expecting a crucial vote in the senate on president obama's new national security team. will chuck hagel become the nation's new secretary of defense? all this and more just ahead. ♪ [ female announcer ] from tracking the bus. ♪ to tracking field conditions. ♪ wireless is limitss.
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[ female announcer from more efficient payments. ♪ to more efficient pick-ups. ♪ wireless is limitless. jon: shocking new report about al qaeda and hole grown terror. it shows the group still able to adapt and diversify despite major setbacks over the years. the report looks at more than 1 70 individuals suspected or convicted of al qaeda-related plots right here in the united states. they include major nadal hasan accused of shooting 13 people in the fort hood massacre. also dote nating a crude car bomb in times square in 2010 and jose padilla,, currently behind bars on conspiracy to murder and kidnap and maim people in a foreign country. that is just the tip of the
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iceberg. all this comes as we mark 20 years to the day since al qaeda first attacked the world trade center in 1993. chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge is live in washington for us now. so these latest cases, what are we learning about them in this research, catherine. >> reporter: that's right, jon. thank you, and good morning. since the end of november, six federal plea deals or convictions for terrorism inside the u.s., that is a case every two to three weeks in this country. and the new report called al qaeda in america, find the vast majority of operatives are under the age of 25 now. like the man who 21-year-old who recently pled guilty for trying to detonate a 1000 pound car bomb at the federal reserve in new york city. a month earlier one of the most serious plots since 9/11, the kwazi brothers were accused of massive bombing campaign. a british author explaining the findings this morning. >> 54%, 36% were u.s. born.
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these are not just all individuals citizens who come from other countries and gained citizenship. many were born in the u.s. and with all the opportunities that provides. >> reporter: the bottom line that these are people who are born here, they are educated here, they often have skilled jobs. so they are products of the american system itself. they are not working outside of the system, jon. jon: but we have so often heard al qaeda is on the run. is it a group that is adapting here in it country? >> reporter: well it is, t reports rule out in washington this morning a former cia director says the threat does not look like 9/11. increasingly u.s. citizens are behind the plots. attacks against the american homeland will be less well-organized, less complex, less likely to succeed, less lethal even if they do succeed. they will just be more numerous. and i think, i would add,
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and more likely to be conducted what you find and we talked about this extensively in our reporting here at fox, the digital threat, digital jihad which is what brings the people together. many case as catalyst to the radicalization, jon. jon: interesting. catherine herridge in washington. you're welcome. jenna: let's bring in former
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cia officer and senior fellow for national security affairs at the heritage foundation, peter brookes. catherine said the terrorists are born here, educated here, born here. why are they being radicalized? why? >> that is very difficult to understand. the thing we really look at jenna, how they're being radicalized. of course the fbi will tell you that their biggest concern is the lone wolf, self-radicalized, homegrown terrorist. we have seen many cases. the heritage foundation came up with a number of exceeding 50 of the number of terrorist plots we've had in the united states since 9/11. that is very, very troubling. it doesn't seem to be, it doesn't seem to be dying off. if you listen to what usama bin laden said, what he talked about, he talked about targeting people who are already in place. whether it was the united states or anyplace else. people who don't have to go through customs. don't have to come through portals such as airports and that are already in place
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and can undertake these terrible act. >> peter, in your opinion, what is so powerful about the ideology of al qaeda that we have not developed an ideology of any sort to combat that? any people that could be vulnerable, don't go to the dark side for lack of a better term? >> it is very, very difficult. there are many, many motivations for people to get involved in terrorism. it could be something like, you know, a criminal side to them. zarqawi in iraq was considered this way. he had a criminal predilection that made him want to cause death and destruction. there are people who want it be part of a bigger thing. people might be motivated idea lonally. it is very, difficult. we look at crime and other issues in the united states. what motivates is each individual. that is very, very hard to tell. jenna: just real quick here, peter, what's the solution? who you do you combat it? >> don't be complacent. that is the answer here. we can't become complacent
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about the threat. that is a huge mistake that is what they want us to do to become complacent and not oppose it. jenna: we encourage our viewers to read the report as well. it is published and surprising. it is easy to become complacent if you don't have the facts. the facts are pretty basic from the report. this headline from the associated press. >> yeah. jenna: i will read it. it is straight off the wire. i want your impression about it because we need to talk more about it with the viewers. the associated press is reporting today that the u.s.-led military coalition in afghanistan incorrectly reported a decline in taliban attacks last year, peter. >> right. jenna: firms said there was no actual change in the number of the attacks. meaning that it didn't get better there. >> right. jenna: the international attacks on our troops, attacks on international troops, pardon me, were the same in 2012 as 2007 ven. -- 2011. is that normal? do we revise that? what does that mean? >> it certainly the runs
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against the administration's narrative that things are getting better in afghanistan. i'm very concerned about this. was this a clerical error? things like this can happen. jenna: that is what they're saying. didn't add a number somewhere along the lines. they missed it. >> congress has to look at this. the get some answers. we're talking about drawing troops down there. we talked about terrorism and al qaeda. and we found out from that report we were just talking about a lot of these people trained overseas were trained in afghanistan. now we may have a security vacuum there. we need to reassess what we're doing in afghanistan based on these new numbers and that is what congress needs to do. jenna: we researched the pentagon for a independent staff we haven't got it yet. we have the research department said if we had revisions in afghanistan over the years and we haven't found any. they told the associated press doesn't tell the full story of progress against the taliban. >> fair enough. it is a snapshot, not the movie. once again i think it is pretty important when the administration uses this.
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panetta said last year that attacks were down in afghanistan in 2012. it doesn't seem to be the case. if we need to get more answers. jenna: we'll look for more information. we continue to cover the story throughout the day here on fox news. peter, thanks for your insight. >> thanks for having me. jon: one town's attempt to go green has some folks seeing red amid complaints wind turbines are making people sick. all this could end up costing taxpayers millions. we're live with that story. plus, what do you get when you cross a rodeo, kids and sheep? the answer is on the way. [ male announcer ] how do you measure happiness? by the armful? by the barrelful? e carful? how about...by the bowlful? campbell's soups give you nutrition, energy, and can help you keep a healthy weight. campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do.
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jon: brand new stories coming up next hour. the woman accused of brutally killing her ex-boyfriend faces a third day of grueling cross-examination from a prosecutor seeking the death penalty. and do you ever get caught by one of those red light cameras? i have. local governments love them,
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especially the cash they generate in fines. why new safety concerns are sparking a huge backlash. jenna: maybe you should slow down? jon: maybe. jenna: just kidding, jon. jon: plus unforgetable and terrifying scene at this year's daytona 500 the panicked 911 calls after one of the cars slams into a fence, spraying dangerous debris moo into the crowd. jenna: we have new controversy today over going green. some folks who live near wind turbines in one massachusetts town now complaining of adverse health effects like headaches and nausea and sleep issues. the town of fall mouth needs to decide if the turbines need to be attorney down. that carry as hefty price tag with taxpayers footing the bill. molly line is live from falmouth with more. molly. >> reporter: the town erected two turbines with the hopes of producing green energy and a lot of savings t created division here in
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this community. they might both come down at a very high cost because come neighbors are complaining not just of noise but illness. >> it gets to be jet engine loud. >> reporter: neil anderson and his wife betsy live a quarter mile from one of the tour inches bynes. they say the impact is devastating, headaches, sleep deprivation. >> every time the blade is in downward motion, it gives off a tremendous force of energy. as a pulse. you know, boom. boom. >> reporter: the first turbine went up in 2010 and by the time both were in place on the industrial side of the town's water treatment facility the price was ten million. town officials say taking them down will cost an estimated five to 15 million in addition to lost energy savings. that is just what falmouth's local officials decided to move towards doing. >> the select men voted unanimously to remove them. they think it is the right thing to do, absolutely. >> reporter: the turbines are being run on curtailment
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only being run during the day as they respond to the complaints by neighbors. which means they're operating at a loss. the officials argue the project was thoroughly vetted and researched and put to a public vote multiple times. >> if we end up taking the turbines down it will be a shame. it will be an embarassment for the town of falmouth. >> reporter: town officials are also calling on the money from the state. they're asking the state to pitch in on this. arguing that the entire process has been a partnership of sorts. now this matter will go before a town meeting in april and it is likely it could end up on the ballot in may. which means the townspeople will most likely voting whether or not they would raise their taxes if they vote to take down the turbines. jenna? jenna: interesting story, molly. thank you. jon: all right. it is one of my favorite rodeo events. jenna: have you tried it? jon: i haven't tried it. my daughter was going to do it but then she chickened out. it is latest attraction at a
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houston rodeo. kids try to ride a sheep. not as easy as it might sound. most kids last just a few seconds before they tumble off. organizers say the event is pretty safe. very few kids get hurt. just about everybody including spectators as has a whole lot of fun. there you go. oh. hang on. jenna: some are real good. jon: there's a weight limit too. they're nice to the sheep. jenna: look at that one. money. put your money on that kid. jon: whoa. jenna: i don't know. jon: my daughter had brothers. they had that. jenna: kids are tougher down south as i learn from my nieces and nephews in texas. jon: you know it. jenna: yeah. jon: we have a massive recall of some little meatballs to tell you about. an international retailer faces a firestorm after an unexpected ingreedent is found in its food. we have the latest on that. plus hundreds of thousands of americans will go in for knee replacement surgery this year.
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now there is some new technology that could help doctors make them, well, almost as good as new.
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jenna: right now some new information on a giant recall from global retailer ikea. after horse meat turned up in one of their most popular products out there, really, rick. rick folbaum has details from the breaking news desk. >> let's start, jenna with those ikea meatballs you're referring to. horse meat found in meatballs sold in ikea stores in the czech republic. they say there is no horse meat in u.s. stores. about 38 around the country. ikea spokeswoman says they sell only meatballs made by an american supplier using beef and pork. because of the controversy, ikea is doing dna tests on
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meatballs sold here and should have the results next month. is anyone importing beef from countries where horse meat has been found? according to the department of agriculture, the answer is no. no horse meat is found in any beef products sold in the u.s. as for u.s. law on this topic, in november of 2011, congress lifted a ban on the slaughter of horses. they have tried to get government inspectors to look at their facilities that would be the first step them being allowed to operate legally here in this country. but the fda has not been there to check them out. so those facilities are not open for business. to some cultures the idea of eating horse meat is simply horrifying the meat is eaten in many countries including italy, france and to name a fee. it is said to be low-fat, high protein alternative to other kinds of meat. the horse meat jenna, was not raised for human consumption. the horses were given drugs
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which could be dangerous when they are eaten in the meat. >> news for u.s. markets. the no great news for european markets. this continues to be a huge story. rick, thank you. jon: you know every year hundreds of thousands of americans could in for knee replacement surgery. until now doctors have had to realize on their expertise, sort of medical guesswork to make sure they get the joint in just right. now there is a new sensor that can make sure everything is lined up properly and that could make recovery a whole lot faster. professor peter walker, a research professor at the department of orthopedic surgery at new york university's langone medical center. i am particularly interested in this story because i have had what, three acl replacements. i'm missing some cartilage. i'm probably going to be a candidate for knee replacement one of these days. how does this work? this is obviously the model of the human knee but when this joint needs to go, you've got a new way to get it in more accurately.
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>> that is correct. at the moment the surgeon relies on skill, experience, and obviously a lot of instrumentation to shape the bones so that they will accept the components very accurately. but one of the more difficult parts of the surgery is getting the knee to move very, very smoothly after the components are placed. it is a very, very difficult job. jon: because every patient is different? >> every patient is different and you're dealing with structures which have been arthritic. the joint surfaces have been arthritic. you have to put the components in very perfect alignment to restore what the knee was like when the knee was healthy. jon: so, and if you don't get that just right, what happens? >> well, one of the things that can happen is, for example, restricted range of motion. everybody likes to get at least 120 degrees if possible, even sitting on this chair. we're using 120 degrees.
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sometimes the motion can be restricted. sometimes it can be restricted in extension. you can't quite extend the knee for example. those are some of the examples. jon: so this little bit of micro electronics comes in. this is what the surgeons use and there are sensors in this? tell us how it works. >> yeah. this has micro electronics built into it. what these are really, are little force plates. if you can imagine a three-he can legged stool, and they have built into here, each of the legs has four sensors. what happens when the surgeon is doing the procedure at the surgery he flexes and extends, moves the knee sideways and like this. and then the force sensors tell him on the computer screen, him or her, on the computer screen, what the forces are in the knee as he flexes and extends it. the idea is to get the forces exactly equal on both side of the knee so the knee
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is perfectly balanced. in other words, it will be a balanced knee, so when you use later on in function, it will move very smoothly and be very stable, and it's a better --. jon: and a better ought come for the patient obviously? >> we believe that. at the hospital for joint diseases we're doing a lot of follow-up research now and there are some of the things we will be focusing on. how much better can we get the function of the patient. already the function is very, very good with total knees as you probably know. that's the good news. the even better news is we think we can make the function even better with a device like this. jon: well, i hope i'm not on your operating table soon but that is good to know if it comes to that for me. professor peter walker, thank you. >> it's a pleasure, thank you. jon: jenna? jenna: for the second time in a week a massive blizzard storm is bringing winter conditions, massive snow, winds, how people are coping there in the midwest. new 911 phone calls from
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call now! >> reporter: hi, everybody, we're here in the "happening now" control room. brand new stories coming your way in the second hour of the show including the florida u.s. senate. it's been a bumpy ride for the president's choice to head up the pentagon, but today could be the day that chuck hagel gets confirmed. the senate set to vote on that controversial decision. also, remember the obama campaign's assertion that the taliban was greatly diminished, that they were on the run? well, that claim may have been off base. we'll have the latest on that as well. plus, the latest on a deadly storm that's hitting the midwest. we'll tell you where it's heading next. all of that and breaking news as the second hour of "happening now" starts right now.
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jon: high noon on the east coast, and right now president obama is in virginia. he's there to talk about, you know what it is, the sequester, right? the automatic spending cuts that kick in on friday. and how it will affect the economy. welcome, i'm jon scott. jenna: sequester, huh? jon: you heard that term before? jenna: i have. hi, everybody, i'm jenna lee. the president is focusing on the impact of cuts specifically to the military if this all happens on friday. he's on his way to visit virginia's largest industrial employer, a shipbuilder. and he's warning the sequester will put hundreds of thousands of people in the defense industry out of work. wendell goler is live in newport news, virginia, with more on this. wendellsome. >> reporter: jenna, 90,000 virginians employed by the defense department could be furloughed if there's no deal by friday. newport news is really the heart of this country's shipbuilding industry. that green circle behind me is the radar dome, the nose cone of
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what will one day be the nuclear submarine illinois, but work schedules here are very much up in the air. now, the president is headed here a day after sending out cabinet secretaries to warn the public that travel, for example, could become a lot more time consuming. >> if you're traveling by air, you're going to have to start getting to the airport earlier. and if you're trying to make a connecting flight, you're going to have to make your arrangements to give you greater time can with which which to do that. >> reporter: homeland security secretary janet napolitano says to insure safety with fewer security personnel on the clock, the lines are going to get longer. jenna: wendell, what's the republican response to that? >> reporter: virginia congressman eric cantor says the president is pressuring congress for the second tax increase in as many months and really giving him what he calls a false choice, cuts designed to be unwise in the sequester was they were intended to force -- because they were intended to
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force a wise compromise. but republicans say the president is not compromising, not negotiating, he is pressuring. >> he has a road show. the fundamental question here the president has to decide, does he want to be president of a political party, or does he want to be president of the united states? it is time for leadership. it is tomb for him to engage finish time for him to engage and come down one mile, deal with the senate if he really wants to lead. >> reporter: speaker john boehner says the house has already passed two alternatives to the sequester with smarter spending cuts. >> we should not have to move a third bill before the senate gets off their ass. >> reporter: riding aboard air force one to try and convince the president to offer alternatives to the sequester. we'll see if he has any luck with that. jenna: well, if that's what the language is like on tuesday,
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we'll see what things sound like by thursday evening, wendell. it gives us something to watch for. wendell goler, thank you. jon: an extreme weather alert now, america's middle under the grip of an icy, deadly, monster blizzard for the second time in a week. whole towns are shut down, hurricane-force winds knocking down trees leaving tens of thousands of people without power. in oklahoma driving is downright treacherous, highways closed. whiteout conditions slowing efforts to clear and salt the roads. buried in snow, drifts as high as 6 feet there, cars stranded on highways trapping people for hours in the bitter cold. in kansas two people killed in separate accidents on icy patches of the interstate. flights in and out of kansas
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city international airport are canceled. sharon watson is spokeswoman for the kansas division of emergency management. she joins us on the phone from topeka. sharon, what's the biggest problem right now? >> huge challenge we're starting to run into is power outages throughout the southeast portion of the state, significant numbers of people without power. kansas city power and light reporting 45,000 customers in the kansas city metro area including the kansas side has 7,000, and that continues on into the rural electrical operatives, into the area between kansas city down toward wichita and the oklahoma border. so we're starting to be very concerned about these areas, they may be without power for several hours. jon: it's one thing to be without lights and appliances, but it's quite another to be without heat. do power outages necessarily mean folks are going to be losing heat in their homes? >> absolutely. and we are looking at the possibility of needing to establish warming centers or shelters, so that's something we
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are in the process of discussing depending how long these projected power outages could go, and some are projected to go for several hours, so we're looking closely at the situation. jon: but at the same time you don't want people driving on the roads, so just driving to a warming center could be potentially life threatening, couldn't it? >> excuse me, the roads are improving in the area of where these power outages are occurring. we still are discouraging travel in the kansas city area on the kansas side, certainly we're still seeing a lot of issues, but you're absolutely right. jon: i know you've got problems, too, among, you know, the farmers and ranchers. they've got herds out there that need to be fed in this kind of, many this kind of weather. it's got to be awfully tough on them. >> that's correct. and is some of these rural electric cooperatives, actually, their electricity is helping and assisting those farming operations, agricultural areas, and so that's another area of concern for them as well.
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jon: i-70, for instance. >> i-70 is open and is okay at this time, and it has improved much over the last several hours as still the kansas city area is our area of biggest concern including on the kansas side. jon: all right. well, again, it looks like a mess. we've seen some of the footage and hope and pray that the power stays on as much as possible in that state. sharon watson is with the kansas division of emergency management. sharon, thank you. >> thank you. jenna: well, right now we're taking you back to d.c. where a vote is underway on whether chuck hagel's nomination as secretary of defense will move forward. mike emanuel has more on this. >> reporter: hi, jenna, yeah. this is the critical procedural vote. if he gets 60 votes, then chuck hagel's nomination essentially heads for confirmation. after controversial statements about iran, israel and even the surge in iraq and what even his supporters would say was a
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lackluster performance during his con confirmation hearing, chuck hagel's nomination takes center stage. let's take a live look at the senate floor where members have been discussing the pros and cons of president obama's choice to lead the pentagon. when this nomination was brought up almost two weeks ago, they failed to achieve the 60-vote threshold, so that bought republicans more time to look at hagel's comments, speeches and positions. earlier, the senate number two republican hammered hagel. >> senator hagel's performance before the senate armed services committee was remarkably inept, and we should not be installing a defense secretary who's obviously not qualified for the job. and who holds dangerously misguided views on some of the most important issues facing national security policy for our country. >> reporter: meanwhile, it was smoother sailing for jack lew in the senate finance committee. he's a former white house chief of staff, also former budget director for president obama.
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the vote was 19-5, and next stop will be a full vote in the senate. ahead of the committee vote the finance chairman made his final pitch. >> as we will discuss today, our nation faces a number of great challenges. we need bright, dedicated individuals like these three nominees to work with us to find solutions. >> reporter: but at the the very moment, of course, we are watching the senate floor to see the procedural vote on chuck hagel's nomination. several weeks ago it got 58 votes, everybody expects it will get 60 votes, then the question is whether the full senate will confirm him later today or perhaps tomorrow. we also expect the jack lew nomination to go to the full senate floor probably sometime later today, jenna. jenna: big news today to watch, mike. thank you. >> reporter: thank you. ♪ jon: a new round of emotional testimony expected today when jodi jodi arias returns to the stand
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later this hour. she, as we've been telling you, could face the death penalty if convicted of the brutal murder of her ex-boyfriend. arias changed her story a number of times, now claims the killing was self-defense. the prosecutors are trying to make the case that she took extraordinary measures to cover up her role in the murder, including sending flowers to the victim's family. adam houseley live in los angeles with an update for us. adam many. >> reporter: yeah, jon, it is fascinating court watching. about 25 minutes from now jodi i arias will take the stand for day 11. the prosecution has shown some interviews back at the time she was arrested where she was smiling, even mugging for the camera, all the while knowing that travis alexander was dead. it's day 11, again, for arias. much longer than anyone expected, and prosecutors are sparring with the defendant, brawling over answers and the meaning of words as arias attempts to explain lie after lie. for example, she told detectives she would help them investigate the murder, wrote a letter tomid
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to know what happened. she also now insists that alexander hit her on a number of occasions but she never told anyone about it for anyone to know about it other than her. >> with regard to that supposed injury that you claimed you received, you didn't call the police, did you? >> no. >> you didn't tell anybody about it, right? >> huh-uh, no. >> um, you -- there is no corroboration anywhere including your journal that any of this happened, right? >> that's right. >> all we have is your word, right? >> that's right. and my injuries. >> pardon? >> reporter: the defense once again trying to show that arias was beaten, but the prosecution trying to show her word isn't good enough because, again, they've caught her in lie after lie. but arias has done her best to dismiss these inaccuracies, she's also had to admit continued untruths with her testimony and anytime she even
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kidsed a guy the day after she killed travis alexander even though we know she had stabbed him 27 times, slit his throat and shot him in the head. again, the prosecution trying to show that how can you believe her that she was beaten by travis alexander when she's told all these other mistruths according to them. it's quite interesting sparring, jon, it goes back and fort. you talk about it really for a long time. with all the different incac ri is the, but if somehow the defense can show that arias did get beaten by travis alexander, maybe the jury will believe her. it's all going to be coming out here, of course, in the next few days. jon: we are cometting to watch it. adam houseley in los angeles, thank you. are prosecutors in this trial making their case to the jurors? our legal panel will be joining us to weigh in. jenna: well, also today iran sits down for a new round of nuclear talks. what world leaders are offering now and what they're waiting for from iran. jon: also new questions about
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the strength of the taliban in afghanistan. why the u.s. military is changing its assessment. jenna: also big questions for so many of you, why some lawmakers in one state are working to get rid, get rid of red light cameras as jon claps us to break. we'll be right back with more "happening now." when you have diabetes...
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jon: a desperate search going on right now for an american couple missing in peru. garrett hand and jamie neil were biking through the andes in late january. after their disappearance, the state department issued a warning about potential kidnappings around the city popular with tourists. both families say it is unusual for the couple to stop communicating each while in remote locations -- even while
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in remote locations. >> we have not heard from garrett since january 25th. all facebook communication stopped, all e-mail stopped, all phone calls stopped and all financial transactions out of his bank stopped. jon: the family's collected $4,000 in reward money for information leading to the couple's safe return. they are printing fliers to distribute in peru. jenna: what a scary story. well, cities in 24 states plus washington, d.c. are using red light traffic cameras to reduce accidents and injuryings. that's supposed to be the point. but there's some growing concern, even outrage if you look at jon scott -- jon: yes, yes. jenna: the cameras are really all about the money -- jon: yes. jenna: they may even be driving up the rate of rear end collisions which is not their purpose for being out there. phil keating is live from miami. we have some strong feelings,
quote
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we'll let you do your report. i can't guarantee he's not going to have questions after. go ahead. >> reporter: jon scott is not alone. it's a hot button issue, and those accidents that sometimes do increase when the cameras go in, that comes from drivers slamming on their brakes to avoid the big ticket, and that's when they cause a rear ender. state lawmakers in florida, iowa, new jersey and washington still have bills in play to ban these cameras altogether saying these are simply moneymakers. just yesterday in minnesota a senate committee killed the bill that would have allowed the cameras, but new york's mayors say the cameras do improve safety, citing a 24% drop in tickets, and miami beach says two years with red light cameras has reduced injuries and accidents like these. >> first year we had a 17% reduction at the intersections where the red light cameras are, the second year we're continuing on that trend where overall we have nearly a 50% reduction. >> reporter: state haw makers like representative daphne
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campbell in florida just don't buy it. she says the $158 tickets in florida are her number one constituent complaint. >> you think that's safety? this is madness. this is, you know, it's not name for something like that because hundreds of dollars, i would be so upset. >> it's all about money. >> it's about money-driven, simple as that. >> reporter: in florida the state gets half of the $158 ticket, the other half then goes to the cities which pay for the cameras and to the camera suppliers which get roughly four grand per month, per camera. american traffic solutions, a major player in this business, they swear their cameras are accurate, so much so they're even more accurate than, say, a cop just driving by the intersection because they have photographic proof. but critics contend it's all about the yellow light. if you shorten the yellow, you'll increase tickets, if you lengthen the yellow by just one second, you'll reduce tickets and accidents at those
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intersections by 60-90%. jenna: that's interesting. all right, a little -- i'm glad you said jon. jon, do you have anything to say here? jon: i believe that the city of new york has fined me hundreds of dollars just because it wants to. jenna: see, phil, i say he should just slow down. >> reporter: scoff law, he's a scoff law. [laughter] jenna: phil, thank you very much. we'll continue to watch that story. i just don't like being caught on camera when i'm not camera ready. [laughter] i don't like that. i don't like the whole thing, but, you know, i guess we all have our own reasons. jon: constitution says you're supposed to be able to confront your accuser in court. jenna: you're really passionate. we've hit a nerve. jon i think they're illegal. jenna: all right. we'll continue to watch this story. in the meantime, we do have other news. jon: iran is back at the negotiating table. six world powers are hoping to persuade the regime to scale back its nuclear program. so how's it going? well, we have the latest after the break. also the coast guard
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jon: right now a massive search effort is underway from a family missing apparently off the coast of california. rick folbaum live in our new york city newsroom with more on that. >> reporter: still no sign of this family, jon. a couple, their 4-year-old son and one other young relative who was with them, and their problems began sunday afternoon when their 29-foot sailboat started taking on water. then the boat's electronic system started to fail including the gps. they were able to radio for
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help, but eventually they had to abandon sailboat. >> they had a cooler and a life ring onboard, and they were trying to make that into a life raft, but we don't know if they were able to successfully do that. we're doing everything we can to try and find these people. >> reporter: the coast guard has been scouring the waters off the coast of california. teams are using a c-130 aircraft along with two helicopter, and in the water they've got a 310-foot cutter, an 87-foot patrol boat and a lifeboat. no one has filed a missing persons report yet, so at this point the coast guard isn't sure exactly who they're searching for, but they are searching, and they're expanding that area now to include hawaii, washington state and also canada. we'll keep you posted. jon: there have been a couple of high-profile hoaxes launched against the coast guard. any probability this is one? >> reporter: well, given the amount of resources they're
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pouring into this, it doesn't seem like the coast guard believes this is a hoax. they really are searching according to the spokeswoman we heard there. they're searching all over for this family. jon: all right, rick, keep us up-to-date. jenna: iran is sitting down for nuclear talks, the first in eight months, n.. iran says it's prepared to make an offer to the west in return for easing some of the sanctions in place over the last several months. in the meantime, in germany secretary of state john kerry is calling on iran to choose diplomacy. >> what i will do in the middle of these talks today here in germany is express my hope and, i think, our hope that these talks can advance a that dialogue and that iran itself will make its choice to move down the path of a diplomatic solution. jenna: mark leibowitz is the executive director for the foundation of the defense of democracies, his expertise iran and the sanctions.
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mark, john kerry has hope, do you? >> hi, jenna. no, i have no hope. because if you're iran's supreme leader and the revolution guards, there is no reason for you cotom propoise. your -- compromise. your pneumonia lahr program is moving quickly, and you have tense of billions in euros which are your principal weapon against the impact of sanctions. so iranian nuclear physics is beating western economic pressure. why compromise? jenna: is there anything we can do about that? >> well, i think there is. number one, i think we can massively intensify these sanctions so we bring the iranian regime to the brink of economic collapse, and we've got to have a credible threat of military force. the united states has got to make it clear to iran's supreme leader that if he moves forward to undetectable breakout, the united states military will destroy his nuclear facilities. jenna: what would that look like, mark? a credible military threat? >> well, it mean, that the united states both in its positioning or military assets and in its rhetoric makes it
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very clear that we have the means and the will to destroy iran's nuclear facilities. right now iran's supreme leader doesn't take us seriously. he thinks we're bluffing. he doesn't believe that this administration is serious about using military force as a last resort. jenna: do you think it would have to come from the president himself, a speech from the president suggesting that when you're the president is heading towards the middle east next month in an apparent attempt to show his relationship, his strong relationship with israel, is that an opportunity? >> i think it's a perfect opportunity for president obama in israel to make it very clear to the israeli people, to the american people and most importantly to iran's supreme leader and his revolutionary guard that this president is committed to stopping iran from developing nuclear weapons capability. again, they are rushing towards undetectable breakout, and by mid 2014 the iranians will be able to produce a bomb's worth of weapons-grade uranium or
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sufficient separated plutonium in a manner, in a pace that is so quick that it'll be undetectable by the iaea. so president obama needs to make it clear now that iranians are racing towards a bomb, and the united states will do everything possible to s it. jenna: so what do you think about these talks then, mark in are these talks, these negotiations having iran at the table, are they helping, or are they hurting the process? >> well, listen, i think it's always important to show a diplomatic option. i think it's important to demonstrate to the iranians that if their willing to comply with their international obligations, there is a diplomatic solution. so there's nothing wrong with diplomatic talks. the problem is the iranians are using it to string along the international community to continue to build towards capability and are looking for ways to try and divide the international community and get sanctions relief from the russians, the chinese and others. so as long as we are sober about what these talks can accomplish, there's nothing wrong with engaging in them, but we've got
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to be careful that we're not strung along for negotiations that get us no where. jenna: there's been reports recently of iran using old ships that they've had their hands on to transport oil without us seeing it, we've also heard iran talk a little bit about humanitarian cry cease that are happening inside the country because of our sanctions, so we're essentially being blamed for iranians not having food and medical supplies. that hasn't hit full tilt, but it gives us an indication about where this conversation is going in the global community. so just tell us a little bit about what you know about what's going on inside iran and how effective these sanctions have really been. >> well, listen, the sanctions have been effective, but they're not effective enough. they haven't brought the iranian regime to the brink of economic collapse. the iranians are engaged in massive sanctions-busting, you mentioned these ship-to-ship transfers. the iranians have billions of
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dollars worth of local currency sitting in japanese and south korean and indian bank accounts, and they can use that money to buy all the food and medicine that they need for the iranian people. if they're not using that money to meet the humanitarian needs of the people, that's the regime's fault, and the u.s. administration has got to make that clear. we've done an awful job on the pr side of making that clear. jenna: mark, thank you. >> thanks so much, jenna. jon well, jodi arias returning to the stand. she changed her story several times before claiming it was self-defense. but what about prosecutors? are they successfully making the case that this was cold-blooded murder? our legal panel is here to weigh in. >> do you have problems with your memory? about that -- any event? it seems like you keep telling me that you have problems with your memory. do you have problems with your memory? >> occasionally. ♪ you know my heart burns for you... ♪
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jenna: well, it is one of our big stories today, extreme weather. a blizzard pummeling can kansas and missouri for the second time in a week, and it's still not done with oklahoma as well. if hurricane force winds downing trees leaving tens of thousands without power and at least three deaths blamed because of this storm. we're live in the fox extreme weather center. >> reporter: look at some of these snow totals, jenna and jon, over 2 feet in the
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colorado, but look at texas, amarillo, your second biggest snowfall ever at 19 inches, and it just keeps coming. and wind gusts in excess of hurricane force winds, el paso, texas, 84 miles per hour, pantex, 77 miles per hour, even new mexico, over 70 mile-per-hour winds. so this is quite an event, and it's still going now across the midwest where we're seeing the snow and then the rain in towards the mid atlantic region. so, kansas city, you're winding down over 6 to maybe 10 inches of snow north and west, and, chicago, now you're seeing the snow. a threat for severe weather as well, and i just want to point out where we're getting the winter weather advisories up towards new england because that's where the snow is going the move next, as you can see. wide swath of 1-3 and then 6-12in the areas of the light
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blue here. yeah, this is the fourth big snow event for parts of the northeast. a real quick look across florida and up towards the carolinas where we could see some hail, damaging winds, isolated tornadoes, and certainly we will keep you post inside the fox news extreme weather center that has been very extreme over the last few weeks, jenna. [laughter] jenna: we look forward to being a more toned-down extreme. >> reporter: yes. i think next week it'll be cold, but more tauped down. jon: jodi arias is about to return to the witness stand for an 11th day of testimony. at first arias claimed she had nothing to do with the murder of her ex-boyfriend, then she claimed it was self-defense. yesterday prosecutors were grilling arias over a series of lies she told investigators. >> yes or no, were you there the to help them? >> i don't know. >> were you there to tell the
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truth? >> no. >> that wasn't the truth, was it, that you were there to help them, was it? >> no, that was not the truth. jon: lis wiehl is a fox news legal analyst, doug burns is a criminal defense attorney. of so she's been on the stand for 11 days. how is she doing? >> finally the prosecution gets a chance. jon: right. >> she did well during the defense in trying to portray -- i'm taking the defense side here -- jon: the abused woman who just --? >> okay, i wasn't buying it for a minute, but whatever. now the prosecution, as you know, was fighting for this. they're doing a good job. they're lying out -- laying out lie by lie, convenient missteps, convenient truth that she's sort of forgotten. she didn't put the abuse that she's complained in her diary. none of that there. there's nothing that crab rates -- corroborates her statement right now, and that's what they're pointing out. they're doing very simple things. you had an internal change, right? yes, an internal change meaning
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a lie. so what they want to be able to do in closing argument is say you can't believe this woman of all those other days she lied and lied and lieed. they're getting a little too much in her grill. you know, you lied, you lied. yes, ma'am, you lied. nobody on perry mason will stand there on a stand and crumple down, yes, i lied. you set the stage, and then in closing you put that all together. jon: is the prosecutor being a little too rough on her. >> it's a matter of effect, demeanor and the way you come across. prosecutors are very well served to be above the fray. you lied to law enforcement, you told them you had nothing to do with it, that was untruthful. you -- jon: not so try dealt, in otherr words. >> he's got this somewhat put upon righteous indignation. you don't really need it. and then the other thing is just in terms of mine fields in a
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trial, this is like thinking a little out of the box, they say she kissed another guy a day afterwards. >> that's important. >> she smiled in her mug shot. if i'm the defense attorney i say find her guilty of murder and execute her, common on. >> right after, i mean, right after she sliced someone's neck 27 times and said it was self-defense, wouldn't she be a little more upset? unless she is a cold-blooded killer, premeditated killer. i think that's great for the prosecution. jon: she also sent flowers, it has come out in testimony, she sent flowers to the victim's grandmother as if to sigh i'm just an -- say i'm just an innocent bystander and just -- >> right. and that looks like a cover up. >> lis, think about it. as a prosecutor, you'd be turning around and saying if the reverse were true, she didn't send flowers, she didn't express any sympathy. you could flip the argument either way. she sent power in toss the grandmother over this horrible, terrible -- >> yeah, where she murdered him. >> he also culled her, so she
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has to kill him. i'm not saying i agree with that. >> no, i think what it goes to and if the prosecution are smart is putting all these pieces together and saying what a cold-blooded, premeditated murderer she is, but yelling at her is not the way to go. >> i agree. but like in the casey anthony case, it's interesting, you know, all of the pup kits were saying -- pundits were saying she lied, but lying and panicking is really less consistent with an intentional killing. >> yeah. but the flowers, see, that goes against the panicking. the flowers goes to -- >> that's true. good point for once. [laughter] jon: oh, boy. >> that's what you told me last week. >> we're going to get into fisticuffs here. [laughter] jon: bailiff, bailiff! there was testimony of perhaps invoking a witness who, to my knowledge, has never testified in an american courtroom. i want to play in this clip for you now. >> you're thinking more of
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yourself when you made this statement to this detective, right? >> i'm not sure about that. >> well, other than you who would be sure about your statement? >> god. >> well, god's not here. we can't subpoena him, right? >> i don't think so. >> you don't think so? are you sure that we can't? jon: she brings, she talks a lot about god. travis was a devout mormon -- >> right. jon: -- apparently. she had converted to his faith. does she think that's playing well with the jury? >> i guess she does, or she wouldn't have said it. but again as a prosecutor, and, obviously, we're monday morning -- tuesday morning quarterbacking here, i would have just let that, let that statement lie and just let it be. >> you know what? you played defense, so let me play prosecutor. how can you testify with a straight space whether you're not sure that god to be subpoenaed? >> but why would you say that? >> she should have just left
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that alone. >> just back off from it. jon: strategically, what about the eye contact she's making with jurors? she'll talk a question from the prosecutor who's maybe over here, and then she'll turn to the jury and make eye contact when she answers. does that work? >> jon, of course, she's been coached to do that. jon: it looks pretty forced. >> defense 101 is you try to make eye contact with either one or, you know, several of the jurors at the same time. so you're, you know, you're convincing them with that eye contact -- >> but at the same time -- >> could look forward. >> again, we're flip-flopping, but from the prosecution vantage point, very often she's looking down which is a telltale sign of lying. >> obfuscating. >> the truthful demeanor is calm, straightforward, looking right -- >> although not too calm because she was supposedly the victim of a horrible thing. >> i agree. >> this coaching business is hard, jon. jon: and for the record, not all prosecutors can be lovable like doug. [laughter] >> thank you, jon.
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jon: all right. >> good point, for once. jon: all right. doug burns, lis wiehl, we'll continue to watch that case. jenna: right now, back to the drawing board. how the military got the number of taliban attacks in afghanistan wrong and what this means as the u.s. draws down its troops there. we'll tell you more about that. plus, watch out. you're supposed to park in the driveway, not on the roof. how this car ended up in the wrong spot. >> i mean, this guy was bouncing off houses, you know? ended up on a roof. i don't know, i don't know how he walked out of that. i have a cold, and i took nyquil, but i'm still stubbed up. [ male announcer ] truth is, nyquil doesn't unstuff your nose. what? [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus liquid gels speeds relief to your worst cold symptoms plus has a decongestant for your stuffy nose. thanks. that's the cold truth! you don't decide when vegetables reach the peak of perfection. the vegetables do. at green giant, we pk vegetables
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jenna: well, a major supreme court ruling just in, the justices hearing on a case that could allow the government to use anti-terror laws to spy on international conversations. shannon bream is live in washington with the latest. >> reporter: hi, jenna. well, the issue, of course, is international conversations can often involve people here in the
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u.s., and that's why a numb of lawyers and jowlists and other groups got together and decided to sue based on federal wiretapping laws. they named james clapper as the chi defendant in this -- key defendant in this case, essentially, but what happened was they couldn't prove they were actually being caught up in any of those conversations, so the question had been whether they happened standing to sue. today in a 5-4 opinion authored by justice samuel alito, the court said they cannot demonstrate that the future injury they purportedly fear is certainly impending and because they cannot manufacture standing by incurring costs in anticipation of nonimminent harm. so a big decision there basically saying you can be afraid of the wiretapping law, but unless you can prove you've actually been hurt by it, you can't sue. also this morning the court heard a case that was very important and, in fact, justice alito called it perhaps the most important criminal procedure case this court has heard in decades. it involves a case out of maryland where if you're arrested for a certain class of
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crimes, way before you're convicted they can take your dma and compare it against unsolved crimes. in this case, a man was linked to an unsolved rape and was eventually convicted of that, but he said, hey, this was an unlawful search and seeds your, you taking my -- seizure, you taking my dna. many of the justices seemed very skeptical, thought it was very important to protect privacy and simply pause you're arrested doesn't mean you've committed a crime and you could scoop up innocent people in this whole matter, but justice breyer also noted, hey, if you use dna, it's also a way to clear innocent people who haven't dope anything wrong. we'll have a decision by june. jenna: shannon, thank you. jon: we are now hearing the frantic 911 calls after that horrific crash at daytona on sunday that left dozens of fans hurt. we'll play the chilling calls for you after the break. clients are always learning more to make their money do more.
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jon: "happening now," a i new report some say could sourcely undermine the obama administration's contention that the taliban is in retreat in afghanistan. as the u.s. draws down its combat troops there. chief national security correspondent jennifer griffin has that live there the pent gob. -- pentagon. >> reporter: it seems the obama administration and the pentagon have been using misleading figures about war in afghanistan and how well it is going. the u.s.-led military coalition in afghanistan incorrectly reported a decline in taliban attacks last year, reporting attacks were down by 7%, a fact that drove the obama administration's narrative that its strategy has been working and that success is allowing u.s. troops to come home early. quote:
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>> r eporter: u.s. commanders insist progress remains unchanged. the coalition corrected these, quote, clerical errors by recently removing all the monthly reports on trends in violence. it now turns out the number of taliban attacks in 2012 were flat compared to 2011 and did not represent a 7% decrease despite repeated claims to the contrary. >> violence levels have been trending downward in the last two years after five years of steady increases beginning in 2006. we've also seen that the taliban has not been able the to regape -- been able to regain any of the territory that they've lost during these last
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few years. >> reporter: unfortunately, those statements by the defense secretary weren't true. it seems somebody forgot to include the afghan security force's numbers in the database because the afghan commanders forgot to send in their reports from the battlefield. jon? jon: so the numbers are going up, the numbers we're seeing from last year. >> reporter: not going up, they were flat. it's just that they were reported as being 7% down and, in fact, there was no change from 2011 to 2012. jon: that's what i meant, that the number that was originally reported is going up. all right. glad we got that straight. jennifer griffin at the pentagon, thank you. jenna: well, right now we're hearing the panicked 911 calls after a race car crash at the daytona 500. rick has more for us. >> reporter: this was our top story on fox on saturday afternoon, and you can imagine the level of cay -- chaos in the stands. large pieces of a race car had just flown through the air and
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struck spectators after a wild last-lap crash. 33 people in all injured, seven of them still in the hospital all recovering, all in stable condition, thankfully. listen to a 911 call just released made by someone there on the scene. >> reporter: officials say that folks were able to get to those injured within a couple of seconds in some cases. three of the people hurt have already hired a law firm to represent them in a possible lawsuit. the president of daytona international speedway says
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officials are looking into whether improvements or changes should be put in place for future races at the track. jenna: what a good, calm good samaritan who made that call. you want to be around someone like that. we'll continue to watch that story, and we'll be right back with more "happening now."
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